Offlimits
by iluvSokka46
Summary: Zuko spots out Katara at a club but Jet gets to her first and starts dating her. When Jet starts cheating on Katara, Zuko will have to make a choice between his 'friend' or the girl he likes. AU Jetara but eventually Zutara CHAPTER 7 NOW UP!
1. In Da Club

Two familiar figures stepped through the crowds of the dark club

**A/N: wow, I told myself that I wouldn't do two stories at a time, but here I am anyway. I wrote this chapter a month ago and was contemplating if I should finish High School Sweetheart or not, but I really want to know if you guys like this story or not and if I should continue it…so here it is. Please please review and tell me what you think!**

Two familiar figures stepped through the crowds of the dark club. The first one, strong and assertive, and the second one, shy and reserved. They meandered towards the bar and sat down, followed by two others. The bartender, seeing their familiar faces, helped them out immediately.

"What do you guys want to drink?"

"I'll have a coke." The confident one answered. He had short shaggy hair and brown skin. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a muscle shirt, and a black leather jacket. Along with being confident, this guy was the leader of the group. The one they all aspired to be with his superb chick skills and his "bad boy" attitude.

"I'll have a glass of water." A rough voice answered from next to him. He was known as reserved. No one knew how he became friends with someone so loud and outspoken. He was insecure and rarely talked, except when directed a question. He was nothing like the other; a complete opposite, but regardless, they got along pretty well. He had jet-black hair that shielded the left side of his pale-skinned face. The hair was used as a cover up, obscuring the view of the reddish-pink skin surrounding his left eye. The one eye that you could see was a piercing gold color, intense in its own league. He wore a red shirt with a black zip-up hoodie over it, and black jeans.

The bartender nodded and turned to the other two. When he was done with the orders, he walked away from the four to prepare the drinks. As soon as he was gone, all of them turned around to survey the dance floor for girls in skimpy clothing dancing alone.

"So Jet, See anyone you like?" One of the guys nudged the tan one, grinning.

"No, not yet." Jet answered while continuing to look. Immediately one girl caught his eye. "Hold on fellas. I'll be right back." Jet slid off his chair and walked straight towards the girl.

Together, the guys watched as Jet started to dance with the girl; her backside glued to Jet's chest and his arms loosely around her skinny waist.

"Damn, look at her! She is smoking hot!" The one named Duke, exclaimed.

"Yeah. Her skirt is practically up her butt." The other nicknamed Pipsqueak replied. "Jet got lu-cky."

The pale guy took one glance at her and shrugged his shoulders. "Eh. She's not that great."

Duke and Pipsqueak looked over at him uninterested. "Oh shut up Zuko! You wouldn't know a hot girl even if she came over and flirted with you,"

Zuko rolled his eyes and turned to face the bar. The drinks had been placed politely on the counter. Zuko took a long drink from his water. He didn't really care if the girl was hot or not. Zuko never liked these sorts of things- clubs and dances in general. He rarely ever danced with a girl, and even then it was awkward because he wasn't good at dancing-or shall he say grinding. The only reason he came was because Jet wanted to come and Duke and Pipsqueak agreed. He was part of the group, the way it happened he still didn't know, and as far as he was concerned he needed to stay in the group. To do this he went to clubs, parties, anything Jet and the others went t, and pretended to have any of the parties Jet dragged him along to, then he wouldn't be part of the group- and therefore have no friends. Frankly, he liked being at things he hated more than being alone.

Zuko turned around and watched Jet and the girl dance for the rest of the song. Jet kept his hands respectively around the girl's waist, which was a bad sign0 or good, depending on how you think about it. At the end of the song, the girl turned around to most likely tell Jet he was a good dancer and then ask if they could dance again. If Jet continued through a second song, he liked her and through any more songs, then they would probably hook up. Jet politely (always politely) declined the girl and ambled back to the guys, where he was met with shocked faces.

"Dude, what is your problem? She was hot and you only danced with her through one song!" Pipsqueak said.

"Yeah, she was cute, but definitely too needy." Jet answered, sitting down and sipping on his coke. "I need a girl who's a bit more hard to get at if you know what I'm saying."

Jet smirked as he was met with hand slaps and approving nods.

"You know it!" Duke laughed as he took a gulp of his drink.

The rest of the night passed slowly for Zuko. Two girls came up to Duke and Pipsqueak and asked them to dance. Zuko had been through two refills and was halfway done with his third. Jet danced with a couple more girls, but none of them satisfying Jet's "needs". Again, Jet came back sighing from his previous dance with some girl.

"This is really not a good batch tonight." Jet stated turning towards Zuko.

"Huh," Zuko replied simply.

"I mean I haven't found _one_ that is hook-up potential!" Jet exclaimed.

"Where could they all be?" Zuko stated sarcastically while looking around.

"I know, right? It's a Friday night and they're not here! Where else…"

Jet continued to talk, but Zuko stopped listening. Right now, he was too busy looking at something a few tables away from him.

She was absolutely gorgeous. She wasn't "hot" like Jet called girls, she was beautiful, and Zuko couldn't take his eyes off of her. She had long dark brown wavy hair and lightly tanned skin. She was wearing a blue and white shirt with dark blue jeans and periwinkle colored flats. Her eyes were also blue, but not just blue; sharp, deep blue eyes that Zuko couldn't stop staring at. She was currently laughing. Her face was brightly lit up by what one of her two friends had said. Eventually, Jet figured out that Zuko wasn't paying attention and turned around to see what Zuko was staring at.

"Whoa!" Jet gaped. "She is definitely, definitely hot."

"No," Zuko corrected him. "She's definitely beautiful."

The two of them took their time to stare at the girl; both of them taking in her features. After a couple of minutes, Zuko got off his chair, interrupting the silence.

"I'm going to ask her to dance." Zuko began to walk over, but Jet quickly stopped him.

"Hold on there, Zuko. Are you sure you want to do that?"

Zuko looked at Jet crazily. "Of course I'm sure."

Jet shook his head. "Maybe you shouldn't There is a chance that she'll say no."

"I know that," Zuko replied confidently. "But I'm still going to do it."

Jet looked serious. "Wait man, you could scare her off. No offense, or anything but your hair doesn't exactly cover up the scar."

Zuko shrank back and touched the left side of his face.

"So how about I go first to see what might happen. I'll bring her over and introduce her to you." Jet offered.

"I-I don't know about that Jet. Maybe…"

"Don't worry about it. I'll be back." Jet hopped off his chair and made his way to the girl. All Zuko could do was watch and see what happens.

Jet made it successfully over towards her and conversationally started to talk. He must have said something funny because she and her friends giggled as Jet smirked. He slowly stuck out his hand to shake hers, but then pulled her hand and kissed the back of it. Zuko furrowed his eyebrows- or his only eyebrow. This was not what he was expecting Jet to do. The girl blushed as Jet let go of her hand. They talked some more before the girl slid off her chair, and followed Jet away from hr table.

'This is it!' Zuko thought as they made their way through the crows. 'Should I just ask her to dance outright or make conversation-'

But no, this was not it. Instead of coming towards Zuko, they continued to the dance floor, right in Zuko's view. Jet pulled the girl in front of him and she pressed her back next to Jet's front and started to grind. Zuko watched showed as they continued to dance. Jet stole a glance upwards towards Zuko. He was about to mouth something, but Jet smirked and continued to dance with the girl.

Zuko continued to stare as they continued to dance. Duke and Pipsqueak came a little later after dancing and watched with Zuko as Jet continued to grind.

"Wow, she's smokin'. Jet's a very lucky man!" Duke said and Pipsqueak nodded.

Zuko didn't even bother to say anything. He continued to look as the girl would occasionally bend over or down and Jet would move his arms. Then each time she came back up, Jet's hands would move farther away from her waist. They danced like this for a few more songs and then it turned into a slower song. That didn't stop the two of them though. The girl turned around and loosely draped her arms around Jet's neck, while his hands were placed on her butt. They danced like this until the song was over. The DJ stated that he would be taking a break, and the music would temporarily stop.

Jet pulled slightly away from the girl, but was still in contact. They seemed to be talking in murmuring voices while the girl giggled at what Jet had just said. Slowly the girl took a pen out from he pocket and wrote something on Jet's hand. Zuko watched hopelessly as Jet bent down and whispered something in her ear. This was it- they had gotten together. Zuko couldn't believe that he thought he would be getting a chance with her. He should have known there would be chemistry between them when they first came into contact. He should have figured that Jet wasn't going to introduce her to him.

Before Zuko knew it, Jet was back leading him and the others out of the club. Jet was boasting about how great it was dancing with Katara, the girl in the club But Zuko wasn't listening. He was hoping that maybe this would just be a series of hookups and then he would have a chance, once again, to ask her out.

BREAK

Saturday night came quickly for Zuko. All Saturday, he was working for his uncle in the teas shop he owned. Zuko had not spoken or seen Jet since the night before but Zuko didn't mind.

Zuko opened up his laptop to quickly check his email. He also went on Facebook to check to see if he got any messages. But Zuko wasn't ready for the disappointing news that came up first on the News Feed:

**Jet Free and Katara Soupole are currently in a relationship**

**A/N: that's it for the first chapter. I'm still going to finish High School Sweetheart so don't worry about that. Hope you liked it and please review and tell me what you think!!**


	2. The Jasmine Dragon

Zach held his head bored out of his mind

**A/N: here's the next chapter everyone wanted. I had part of it done anyways so I thought I should finish it and let you read it. Thanks for all of the reviews from the first chapter and I hope you all like this chapter too.**

Zuko held his head bored out of his mind. Usually during lunchtime, He would be sitting with Jet and company occasionally talking. But not today; today Pipsqueak and Duke were sitting there shooting questions at Jet about his new relationship.

"So you guys went on a date?" Pipsqueak drilled.

"Yeah, on Saturday." Jet answered.

"So you guys never hooked up?" Duke asked.

"Nope. Katara's more of a long term relationship person. I'm willing to do that with her."

"Wow, you must really like her then." Duke pointed out.

"You've never gone out with someone who you thought was hook-up potential at first."

Jet shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I like her. We'll have to see how it plays out."

Duke and Pipsqueak grinned, understanding what Jet was getting at. The conversation ended and everyone continued to eat, including Zuko.

The rest of the day went uneventful. At the end of the day, Zuko gathered his stuff and met Jet at his locker.

"So I'm not going to be able to meet at your house today." Zuko started as Jet was packing his stuff in his backpack.

Jet nodded and looked up at Zuko. "I guess that's-"

Zuko looked puzzled at Jet for a minute. His face had frozen and he stopped talking.

"No way!" Jet exclaimed as he brushed past Zuko and raced down the hall. Zuko turned around to see Jet quickly walk over to a girl and kiss her.

"Hey babe." Zuko heard Jet say to her and they hugged. _No!_ Zuko thought. _Why did she have to come here?_ Jet turned around and waved Zuko over. Zuko hesitated for a moment before he started to trudge over. He couldn't believe she was here! They were going to meet face-to-face before Zuko thought he was ready to do that. Besides, he still had a crush on her from before and Zuko hadn't yet gotten over the fact that she was Jet's girlfriend.

Katara stood there waiting for Zuko to get to them. She seemed to be confident but a little shy too, as if she wasn't sure if visiting her new boyfriend at school was appropriate. She had on what Zuko assumed was a uniform. She was wearing a white collared shirt and a plaid skirt. Even though he and Jet used to make fun of uniforms, he had to say she looked flattering in it. Zuko came to a stop in front of the two and put on his nicest smile.

"Katara, this is Zuko. Zuko, this is Katara." Jet introduced them. Katara quickly put her hand out and Zuko slowly followed suit.

"Nice to meet you." Katara replied brightly. Her eyes pierced his with sincerity. For a second, Zuko didn't say anything, quickly lost in her eyes. When he realized what he was doing, he snatched his hand away and mumbled something incoherent. Jet watched the exchange before tuning his full attention to Katara.

"So what are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at Oma and Shu's café."

"We were but Suki went there and it's out of business. Now we have no where to chill."

Jet stood in thought for a minute. Then he pointed to Zuko. "Doesn't your uncle own the Jasmine Dragon?"

"Yeah, but I don't see how-"

"Katara and her friends can meet there." Jet reasoned.

"Is The Jasmine Dragon a café?" Katara asked confused.

"Yeah, and it has the best tea around." Jet explained.

Katara nodded. "Well I'll need to tell the others where it is, and I think we'll be good."

Katara turned towards Zuko. "Would your uncle be okay with us meeting there everyday?"

"I guess…" Zuko started but Katara was already excited.

"Yes! Thank you so much! You're a lifesaver!" She directed towards Zuko.

"And you," Katara turned towards Jet again. She kissed Jet quickly before giving him a thank you also. Jet smiled but leaned to kiss Katara again for longer. Zuko quickly looked at the floor.

"Well, I should get going. See ya!" And with that, Zuko quickly left the couple as fast as he could.

BREAK

Zuko stared into the mirror as he styled his hair over his left eye. Today Katara and her friends were hanging out here in the Jasmine Dragon and Zuko wanted to look perfect when she arrived. Zuko stopped for a second. What did it matter for him to look perfect? Katara _was_ Jet's girlfriend. Zuko sighed. He had to remember that she wasn't the girl he first saw at the club. Now she was taken by his best friend. And yet he still continued to cover his eye and straighten out his clothes. _Well,_ he thought. _Here goes nothing,_ and walked out of the employee bathroom and into the main part of the shop.

There were many tables in the middle of the room and some booths lining the walls. There was also a counter where people could sit and see directly how the tea was made. And fortunately for Zuko, Katara was situated in a chair in the middle of the counter. Zuko froze in the doorway. He wasn't ready to face Katara alone. He thought that maybe if he discreetly turned around and walked back from where he came, he wouldn't be noticed. Just then, Katara looked around and spotted Zuko and waved. Now he definitely had no way of escaping.

"Hi." Zuko said when he got to Katara.

"Hey," Katara replied and smiled at him. Zuko started to stare into her eyes but caught himself quickly. He then busied himself with putting on his apron and getting out the ingredients his uncle would need to make the tea.

Katara tapped her fingernails rhythmically on the counter and looked towards the door. "Do you know when Jet is supposed to get here?"

Zuko shook his head. "He might be caught up with teachers or something. He should be here in a few minutes or so.

Katara nodded as she continued to tap her nails on the counter and look around impatiently, She absent-mindedly ran her other hand over her light blue headband and through her brown curly hair. Zuko looked up from what he was doing

"Are you nervous or something?"

"Hmm?" Katara focused her attention on Zuko. He gestured towards her hand and she immediately understood. "Oh yeah. My brother's coming along with my other friends."

Zuko looked confused, prompting Katara to continue.

"Jet is going to meet my brother so I'm sort of worried. He's way over protective of me and he sometimes blows little things out of proportion. It's so annoying."

Zuko nodded. "Well at least you have someone who you can count on no matter what."

Katara smiled and thought for a moment. "Do you have any siblings?"

"I have one sister. She's too years younger than me."

"Really? What's her name?"

"Azula."

"Oh! I know her, she goes to my school."

"You go to Kyoshi?"

"Yep. So Azula's your sister?" Katara looked thoughtful for a moment. "You guys really don't look alike."

"Oh." Zuko absent-mindedly touched his scar. Katara froze and tried to explain.

"No…I-I didn't mean it like-"

Just then, Jet appeared behind Katara and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hey Kat."

Katara turned around and gave him a short kiss, but Jet held on for a longer.

"Hey." Katara answered with a hint of sadness.

Zuko looked away as Jet continued to kiss Katara.

"Maybe we…should get…a booth." Katara said between kisses.

Jet pulled away and smiled. "Okay, lead the way then."

Katara started to walk away holding loosely onto Jet's hand. Before Jet was pulled way though, he turned to look at Zuko. He smirked at him then walked over to the booth Katara had chosen.

Zuko sighed as he watched Jet and Katara continue to kiss until people- whom Zuko assumed were Katara's friends- came in. Zuko watched as Katara introduced Jet to her brother. After all of the introductions were made, the table settled down and looked over their menus.

Just then a stout man came out from the back area and slapped Zuko in the back, startling him.

"Hi uncle." Zuko said when he recovered.

"Hello Zuko," Iroh replied and looked around at the lack of customers he had. There were a few people sitting at the tables in the middle, and one large group on the side. "You can take the orders today."

Zuko froze. "No way! You usually do it, why not do it now?"

"There aren't a lot of people around. Besides," Uncle Iroh pointed to the booth. "Isn't your friend over there? It'll be easier to serve someone you know."

Zuko groaned. He did **not** want to serve Jet; especially since Katara was there too- with all of her friends. If he messed up, like he would evidently do, all of them would undoubtly make fun of him behind his back.

"Could I do it some other day?" Zuko whined.

Uncle Iroh shook his head. "It's okay, you'll be fine." He smiled and went into the back room.

Zuko sighed and took out a pad and pencil and made his way towards the booth. Before he made it there, Jet spotted him.

"You're going to be our waiter?!" he laughed until Katara elbowed him in the arm.

"Be nice." Katara scolded and looked up expectantly at Zuko.

Zuko cleared his throat. "Hi, my name is Zuko and I'll be your waiter for today. What teas would you guys like?"

Katara was the first to speak. "I'll have a jasmine tea." She smiled as she handed the menu to Zuko. He carefully avoided her eyes as he took the menu and pretended to write something else.

"I'll have a jasmine tea too." Jet said and he gave his menu up too. He turned to Katara and whispered something to her before starting to kiss Katara's cheek and neck.

"Hey, stop doing that! This is a public place and people don't need to see that!" A boy across from the two yelled at them. His hair was shaved on the sides and hair in the middle that was pulled in a ponytail. Jet pulled away quickly as Katara furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"Sokka, stop telling us what to do and mind your own business."

"I'm allowed to tell you what to do. If Gran-Gran was here, she would have had a heart attack watching the two of you."

"Katara huffed and a girl next to Sokka slapped his arm playfully. "Just order."

Sokka turned to Zuko. "I'll have a cup of black tea."

"I'll have some green tea." The girl next to Sokka stated. She had short brown hair and a green headband on.

Zuko nodded. And for you?" He looked towards the couple in the middle of the booth.

"I'll have a mango Ceylon tea." The boy answered. He had short dark brown hair and wore and orange shirt.

"I'll have a jasmine green tea." The girl replied. Her eyes were frosted over and she wore a green headband holding back her long black hair.

The remaining menus were given to Zuko and he walked over to the front counter where Iroh was busy making tea. Zuko repeated the orders to Iroh and he busied himself with making the orders. Zuko came around the counter and watched the group he was waiting on until Iroh was done.

"The tea is ready." Iroh announced, waking Zuko out of his thoughts. He slightly smiled and gathered the cups on a tray and carried them over to the booth.

When he was halfway to his destination, he noticed Katara looking at him thoughtfully. Zuko stared back confused. Why was she watching him like that? Was something wrong? When Zuko was almost to the booth, something tripped him and he dropped the tray on the table, causing all of the cups to tip over and spill on everyone in the booth.

All the girls shrieked as Zuko swore to himself multiple times. "I'm so sorry. I'll get you all more tea for no additional cost." He cleaned up what he could off the table and rushed back to get some more. As he was leaving though, he couldn't help but here what was being said about the incident.

"He can be such a klutz sometimes."

After Zuko got the second round of drinks delivered successfully to the booth, Zuko went back to the front counter. They all looked like they were having some fun, despite what he had done to them earlier. Zuko couldn't help but wish that he was part of the group, laughing along with them and really fitting in. If only…

BREAK

The next day Zuko was wiping of the counters of the tables when Katara came in. He stopped what he was doing to watch her amble towards the back of the restaurant and not to the booth she sat at yesterday. Zuko finished what he was doing and walked around the counter where Katara was sitting.

"Hi." Katara said and Zuko smiled at her. She sighed and looked around before looking at Zuko again.

"Listen, I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. I didn't mean to insult you. What I was trying to say came out wrong. I just meant that Azula likes pissing people off and intimidating them, while you seem calm and really nice.

Zuko's face reddened as he looked away. "Thanks, and apology accepted."

Katara beamed and relaxed a little. "Good. That was worrying me all last night and today too."

Zuko perked up. "Really?"

Katara nodded. "Yeah. You have been really nice to me, and then I offend you. I didn't want things to start out like that."

Zuko nodded and continued what he was doing.

"Oh, and don't worry about what happened yesterday with the tea. I'm pretty sure I would have done the same thing."

Zuko smiled slightly. He felt a whole lot better now that he and Katara were back on good terms.

**Well that is it. I am going to camp on the 28****th**** so I probably won't be updating this story until august. :( Sorry about that. Anyways thanks again for all of the reviews I got and please please please review this time too.**

**p.s.- to one of the people who reviewed the first chapter (hj) and I wasn't able to reply-**

**I know that Zuko is supposed to be a tough person but in my story he isn't; not yet anyway. You'll learn this later but Jet uses Zuko's insecurity about his scar to keep Zuko from doing things. Anyway, there will also be an explanation of why the two are friends and other stuff, but just not now. Thanks for your review though.**


	3. Homecoming

**A/N: I'm back!! (Incase you didn't read it in my profile.) Here's the next chapter. It's much longer than most of my other chapters, but it is mainly because I added a lot of unimportant parts because I felt like it. I feel like the beginning is good, but the rest goes down hill, but anyway, read it and tell me what you think!**

Almost everyday Katara would come into the Jasmine Dragon and sit near Zuko until Jet arrived. Gradually, Katara stopped inquiring about when Jet was coming and started to enjoy Zuko's company- much to his pleasure. He now felt more comfortable around her, and he started to think that maybe his crush on her would vanish sometime in the near future.

Katara watched as Zuko cleaned up the counter and got ready for his uncle. Zuko would occasionally sneak a peek at her and see as she stared at him intently. Every time, a faint blush would spread on Zuko's cheeks as he tried to settle the fluttery feeling in his stomach.

"Are you going to the homecoming dance?" Katara asked Zuko one day in mid September.

"To _your_ homecoming dance?" Zuko replied confused.

Katara giggled. "No, silly! Mine already came and went. I was talking about yours."

Zuko shook his head. "Nope."

Katara pouted, making a shiver go down Zuko's spine. "Awww! Why not?" She whined.

"Well I don't have a date, for one," Zuko murmured but Katara caught it anyway.

"Don't you have someone you can ask?" Katara asked, wiggling her eyebrows mischievously.

"No…" _Yeah, but she's already taken,_ he thought.

"Well find someone! You have to come." Katara reasoned.

"But I don't really want to."

"But you should anyway!"

They argued back and forth until Jet sauntered over to Katara and Zuko stopped responding.

"Hey babe," Jet pecked Katara's cheek respectively- that was definitely a first. "What are you guys arguing about?"

Katara huffed. "I'm trying to get Zuko to go to Homecoming. Who could he bring?"

Jet shrugged, as Katara continued her rant. "Sheesh, don't you know any girls?!"

"I know one but I would never…" Suddenly Jet choked on his laughter.

Zuko's cheeks burned knowing that Jet picked up what he was talking about and knew what was coming next. _Damn it!_

Katara patted Jet's back hard. "You okay?"

Jet chuckled as his smile grew. "I'm fine. Just thinking about one person Zuko could take…"

Katara lightened up. "Really, who?"

"Mai," Jet laughed again while Zuko wished that he could disappear. "Wow, that would be rich, eh Zuko?" Jet reached over and slapped Zuko's arm as he smirked.

"Mai's a pretty name…" Katara started off.

"Not until you see her in person." Jet interrupted as Zuko glowered at him.

Jet continued. "When we were in seventh grade, Mai told Zuko she had a crush non him. And how did he respond? He tried to get into her pants!"

Katara frowned as Jet laughed harder. "Oh man, it was so funny!"

Zuko stared at the counter. His cheeks burned as he tightened his fist more. He couldn't believe Jet told that story and he told it wrong too! But Zuko didn't have the courage to speak out, so he stood there waiting for Katara's friends to come and put him out of his misery.

Zuko looked up slightly to see Jet start to speak again. "I bet she would **love** to go out with you now." And he laughed some more.

"Stop that Jet," Katara stated firmly. Zuko looked at her face; she looked pissed. "It's not that funny."

Just then, a bunch of people bustled in through the door. Zuko's relief party was here. Katara watched while they settled into their regular booth before speaking.

"Are you going to be our waiter Zuko?" she asked trying to ease some of the tension between him and Jet.

"I'm not sure." Zuko sputtered out.

"Okay, well I guess I'll talk to you later then." Katara slightly smiled at him as she turned around and headed towards the booth with Jet right on her heels. He turned around and smirked at Zuko while he draped his arm over her shoulders. Fortunately, Katara shrugged him off, leaving Jet with a scowl and Zuko with a triumphant grin.

BREAK

Zuko stared at the board and tried to take notes. Usually he would be doodling in his notebook, but right now he was trying to slow time down, believe it or not.

Jet came up to him this morning and said he and Katara were buying tickets for homecoming after school today. He was letting Zuko know so that he would be able to decide on his date by then. How thoughtful was Jet?

So now, Zuko didn't want time to quickly go by because he was still unsure about homecoming. He had no idea who he was going to bring. He knew he wasn't bringing Mai and he knew he wasn't going alone. There would be way too much of a distraction if he did that…

His thoughts wondered to yesterday at the café. His fingers balled into a fist as he thought about it. Zuko couldn't believe that Jet would pull that kind of trick. Now Katara probably thought he was a total douche bag. To top it all off, that wasn't even how it went! The only reason he acted that way was because Jet had told him that was the proper way to handle it. This was back when Zuko's self esteem was crushed, but he thought he was lucky enough to have a friend that was good at talking to girls and for having a friend at all. This was one of the first things that made Zuko rethink his supposed friendship with Jet.

A loud slam on Zuko's des made him jump out of his thoughts, causing a few classmates to laugh.

"I'm sorry for interrupting Mr. Fuego, but could you tell me what the tangent to this curve's term would be?"

Zuko stuttered trying to find a reasonable answer.

"That would be the derivative, Mr. Fuego. Thanks anyways for your intelligent answer." More students giggled at Zuko's expense.

Zuko sighed. This might turn into being an even longer day than Zuko wanted.

BREAK

Zuko quickly walked down the hallways of the school. He just wanted to get out of the building as soon as possible. Unfortunately, a female voice called his name causing him to stop.

It was Katara. She was standing with Jet in the line for the homecoming tickets. Zuko slowly walked over to the couple.

"Hey."

"So have you decided about the dance? Who are you bringing?" Katara asked urgently, throwing Zuko off. He was having a difficult time trying to understand why she cared so much.

"I don't have a date, so I'm not going."

"Come on! You had all day to ask someone."

"Sorry it sort of slipped my mind."

Katara frowned as the line towards the tickets moved forward.

Zuko glanced over to Jet and saw the smile on his face, staring at something behind Zuko.

Zuko snapped his head around like lightning. Mai was walking past them towards the exit.

"That's Mai over there." Jet nudged Katara.

"Really?" Katara looked around Zuko to get a better look. "Zuko, go and ask her to the dance!"

"No way!" Zuko stated.

"Fine," Katara said and took a breath. "MAI!" She shouted.

Zuko froze; he couldn't believe this.

Mai turned around confused.

Zuko slowly turned to face Mai. He was speechless. He hadn't even rehearsed anything!

"Zuko's sort of afraid to tell you this, but he has a crush on you and wants to know if you would go to the homecoming dance with him."

Mai squinted at Zuko. "Are you serious?" She asked skeptically.

Zuko didn't have an answer, so he just nodded.

"Fine I'll go with you." She answered.

"Zuko will buy the tickets today." Katara continued.

"Do you have my number?" Mai asked Zuko quietly, while her cheeks got red.

"I can get it from Azula." Zuko replied. Mai was friends with Azula so he thought he could do it that way. Besides, he didn't want to make himself look more like a fool than he did already.

"Okay well I'll see you around." Mai slightly smiled and turned back around to leave.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Katara cheerfully asked as Mai disappeared.

BREAK

Zuko stood on the familiar doorstep looking at the familiar door. He knew he would be able to do this by himself, but his uncle drove him here anyway. The car was now parked behind Zuko, here for moral support, he thought.

Zuko knocked twice on the door and it swung open almost immediately. It was Azula, both fortunately and unfortunately.

Azula was wearing her uniform skirt with a red collared shirt on. Her shoes were black high heels and her dark hair was pulled back into a bun, with two strands framing her face.

"What are you doing here?" She spat.

"Is dad in there?" Zuko asked cautiously. He didn't want his father to know that he came back here for something.

"Why does it matter? It's not like he's going to let you back here with open arms."

"That's not why I'm here though. I was wondering if you have Mai's number."

"What do you need it for?" Azula asked.

"I asked her to the homecoming dance at our school and I need to call her."

"Wow, that's pathetic," Azula chuckled remember the situation as she got out her phone. "Didn't have anyone else to ask?"

"What does it matter?" Zuko replied bitterly.

"You harass her and then ask her to a dance. I'm surprised she said yes."

Zuko didn't say anything, so Azula gave him the number.

"Thanks Azula." Zuko replied and started towards the car.

"You're welcome, Zuzu. I'll be sure to let dad know you came by." And she slammed the door.

BREAK

Zuko came in to the barely occupied gymnasium where the dance was being held. Zuko looked at his watch; it was just about eight. He picked Mai up in his uncle's car and around 7:3 and here they were. The dance started at eight and Zuko was wondering why no one was here.

Zuko turned to his date. "Do you want some punch?"

Mai shook her head. "No thanks." She sighed.

"Okay. Well I'm going to go get some. I'll be back."

When Zuko came back, Mai was sitting at one of the tables near the other side of the room. He had no choice but to sit there next to her. Zuko sat there awkwardly for a couple of minutes. Then Katara came in with Jet.

She definitely put thought into what she was wearing. She had on a short blue dress with sequins. It was strapless and it sort of cut low. Zuko remembered what Jet had said about it. Apparently he wanted her to show some skin in that area, "so that he wouldn't get bored."

Katara spotted the two and immediately headed over, dragging Jet along.

"You look great!" Katara exclaimed to Zuko.

Zuko looked down at his outfit. It wasn't much. He was wearing black pants and a white button down shirt. His outfit was nothing compared to Jet's, who went the classier route with a light blue tux, matching Katara's outfit.

Katara sat down and stretched her hand towards Mai.

"We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Katara."

"Hi." Mai replied back, not bothering to return the handshake. Instead she turned her attention towards the dance floor. The music was getting better and some people were dancing. Katara turned towards Jet.

"You want to dance?"

"No thanks. Let's wait a little while."

Zuko watched the two as Katara laced her fingers with Jet and silently started talking to him. Zuko looked over Katara's outfit once more.

Katara was also wearing a silver necklace with a blue gem on the end of it. She was wearing her hair out too; her brown hair was curled and was placed over one of her shoulders.

"You look beautiful tonight." Jet whispered softly in Katara's ear though Zuko caught it anyway.

"Thanks," she answered. Their faces were so close it was only a matter of time before they closed the gap…

Zuko looked away and chose to direct his attention towards Mai. He felt guilty that ye had been staring at someone else's date for most of the time. Mai wore a long black dress with red sewn into a design. She had a black chocker around her neck and her hair was in two buns and parts of her hair covered over her shoulders.

More silence between the two followed. Jet asked Katara to dance and she accepted. Zuko tried the same thing with Mai.

"Do you want to dance?"

"No I don't like this song," she replied and the continued to sit in silence.

Many songs passed as Zuko and Mai continued to sit there. Duke and Pipsqueak passed through with their dates but left to go "show them around the school."

The dance was almost over when Mai decided to go to the bathroom. Zuko didn't notice she was gone until a few minutes after she had left. He was too busy staring at the couple dancing in the center of his line of vision. Jet had his arms slung around her waist. Occasionally he would glance up at Zuko to see him looking at them, and then continued to dance.

Zuko glanced down at the table. He was getting more bored by the second. He was pretty sure he was going to fall asleep. Just then, a hand flashed in front of his eyes. Katara was sitting next to him and Jet on the other side of her.

"You seem a little bored." She commented.

Zuko scoffed. "A little?"

"Well more like a lot. How about you ask Mai to dance?"

"I already asked her and she said no."

"Ask during a slow song. Besides those are a little more romantic." Katara grinned.

And on cue, Mai came out of the bathroom and the song's tempo got slower. Zuko waited for a while before he asked Mai to dance. She hesitated and finally obliged. Zuko led them to the dance floor, where he stiffly put his arms around her waist and hers around his neck. Zuko tried to concentrate on Mai's eyes or her face, but kept getting distracted. When Mai leaned in and laid her head on his chest, Zuko's eyes wondered. He gazed as Jet wrapped his arms around Katara and they leaned their foreheads together. Jet smiled at Katara, who was smiling aback.

Zuko felt puzzled. Surely Jet hadn't seen Zuko looking at them, so why was he acting like this? It could be true that Jet could really like Katara, but Zuko had thought that Jet only pretended to like her because of Zuko. This could only mean one thing - things were going to get a lot more serious between the two.

**So that's it for this chapter. I'll try to post up another chapter before September/ when school starts. If any of you are reading my other story High School Sweetheart, I'm sorry I haven't updated lately, but I'll try to get on that too. I know it's been a while but I'll be really thankful if you review for this chapter!**


	4. Planning a Party

**A/N: hey guys…long time no see. Sorry it's been a really long time- I've had lots of work. I'm almost finished with my second paper, and I've sort of lost some interest in the story- but I'm back now, so I'm going to try and finish this story and my other one, before I finally stop. But anyways, here's the fourth chapter. Hope you guys like it. **

Zuko opened his phone to look at who had just sent him a text. It was Mai. He stared at the phone for a minute before closing the device and stashing it into his pocket.

Katara gave him a knowing glance. "Who was that?"

"No one." Zuko answered automatically as he went back to what he was doing.

Katara smiled as she stole a glance at her phone. She put it back into her bag and fished out a bright red folder.

"Jet said he's going to be here in thirty minutes. So, I thought that we could discuss a few things before gets here."

Zuko furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and stopped what he was doing.

Katara opened the folder and continued talking. "It's nothing like that. I just wanted to know if you'd help me with something." She looked up at Zuko and smiled. "I was thinking of planning Jet a surprise birthday party."

Zuko shrugged his shoulders and carried on with his work. It sounded like a good idea, but he didn't know how that would affect him.

"I'm pretty solid with the ideas and the decorations and the other things like that, but I need a little help with the guest list. Since I don't go to your school, I don't know who should be invited or not. That's where you come in."

Zuko groaned. He wasn't too keen on wanting to help Jet. But in a way he was helping Katara, so instead of protesting to have no involvement, he agreed to help.

"What do I have to do?" Katara's eyes quickly lighted up as she pulled out a few sheets of paper, and handed them to him.

"The first page is the template of the invitation. You can make how many copies you need with it. My house fits about sixty people, so you may use that as a guideline. Make sure to tell them to get to my house thirty minutes before the time on the invite, and they can call me if they need help getting directions."

Zuko looked over the documents carefully. He had to admit that she thought this thoroughly. All he had to do was hand the invite out to people, and then he would possibly be done. He slowly folded up the pieces of paper and put them into the pocket of his apron. He turned to look at Katara.

"Is that it?"

Katara nodded. "That's it. And of course you're coming to the actual thing right?"

"Ummmm…"

Katara pouted. "Ahh, come on Zuko. I don't trust all of those people in my house while I'm not at home. I need someone to make sure they don't do anything stupid. Besides, it would mean a lot to Jet if he saw you were there. He _is_ your friend."

Zuko tried not to roll his eyes at her comment for her sake. Jet couldn't care less if Zuko made it or not. It would only matter to him if he and Katara were going to make out at this event. Then he would want Zuko to be there front and center so that he could rub what Zuko didn't have in his face.

"I guess I could come and manage them for you," Zuko answered. "Why aren't you going to be there to supervise?"

"I'm planning to take Jet to dinner and then take him to the house. I'm guess that's a two hour time slot. But you wouldn't have to be there the whole time- just forty-five minutes beforehand to put out the snacks and to let people in."

"I guess I could do that."

"Yay! Thanks so much Zuko. I totally owe you one!"

"Don't mention it." Thankfully their conversation ended just in time for Jet to stroll into the door and have no idea what was happening.

"Hey, babe. How was school?" Jet stopped at the right side of her and pecked her on the cheek. Zuko thought it was strange for him to be so reserved, but didn't say anything.

"Nothing much. We should probably go over to our booth." Katara slid off of her seat and followed Jet to the table. Before she got there, she quickly turned around, smiled at Zuko, and continued over to their seats.

BREAK

Zuko stood near his lockers watching masses of people passing to get to their homerooms. Even though there was ten minutes left until the bell rang, most people wanted to be early so that they wouldn't get detention for being late.

"Who are you looking for?" Jet had magically appeared next to Zuko, startling him.

"N-n-no one." Zuko sputtered. He hadn't expected Jet to be in the hallways. In the morning he was usually finishing up homework he didn't do at night, or meeting with his tutor.

"Don't you have a thirty minute tutor session before school starts some days?"

"Yeah, well … she wasn't here." Zuko glanced over at Jet for a second before facing the hallway again. "So are you going into homeroom now?" Jet inquired.

"No…I have to do something first. I'll see you in there." Jet nodded and walked off, just as Zuko spotted who he was looking for. Duke and Pipsqueak stood off on the other side of the hallway, probably waiting for the crowd to die down. He made his way over to their side of the hallway, before pulling out the papers Katara gave him the day before.

"Hey Duke, Pipsqueak." Zuko stated as casually as he could.

"What's up?" They both said as they continued to stare at the people moving towards their homerooms.

"You remember Katara right?"

"You mean that chick Jet picked up from the club? Yea, we remember her."

"Well, she's planning a surprise birthday party for Jet, and she needs help passing out the invitations."

"So…what does this have to do with us?"

Zuko handed Duke a pack of flyers. "These are the invitations I was hoping you guys could pass out for me."

Pipsqueak looked at him suspiciously. "What's in it for us?"

Zuko shrugged. "What do you want in return?"

Duke and Pipsqueak glanced at each other and looked back at Zuko. "Do our chemistry homework for one week."

Zuko took an exasperated sigh. "Fine. I'll do it. There are 70 flyers I handed to you. Katara's house holds 60 people but you may invite a couple more people in case some don't show. The number at the bottom is Katara's cell phone number for directions, and to RSVP they need to email her. Does that make sense?"

Pipsqueak nodded as he stored the papers into his backpack.

"Cool. We better get into homeroom." Zuko stated as the three made their way down the hall with the rest of the crowd.

BREAK

When Zuko came to the counter, Katara was already there, waiting excitedly for him to come. When she saw him, she smiled broadly and immediately launched into questions.

"So did you give the invitations out yet?"

"I got two of Jet's friends to help pass them out. They should be given to people by today or tomorrow."

"Cool." Katara checked off something on her paper. "So they didn't have any questions about the information?"

"No, they got it."

Katara relaxed as she wrote something else down on her paper before putting it away. "Okay, then. Thanks again Zuko for the help."

"No problem."

They both worked silently- Zuko getting ready for the afternoon shift, and Katara doing what looked like homework. Forty minutes passed before Katara moved to look at her cell phone and frowned.

"Jet's late."

Zuko stopped what he was doing to listen to her. "He has tutoring. Maybe that ran over a little."

Katara nodded. "Maybe that's it. I shouldn't be so paranoid, right?"

Zuko took his time to think the statement over. Should she be paranoid? Jet was known for getting himself into situations when he was dating someone, but this didn't really count. This was one of the first times in a long time that Jet had _really_ dated someone, for real. Zuko knew that Jet was somewhat serious about Katara; he couldn't possibly be doing something behind her back…

"Right." Zuko answered then continued what he was doing. He couldn't help but have some doubt about his answer.

BREAK

Zuko rushed to his locker and tried to quickly put his books into his backpack. He was meeting with his English teacher over his essay and didn't realize until afterwards that he was running late for work. He knew Uncle wouldn't mind all that much, except that it was probably busier then usual. For some reason unknown to him and his uncle, Thursday nights have always been as busy as Saturday mornings.

Zuko quickly went over what he had for homework in his head. _Math…History…Spanish… and of course Chemistry… wait- where's my Chemistry book?_

The book wasn't in his locker, and it wasn't already in his bag. Zuko racked his brain for where he might have left it. He had a couple of study halls, but didn't use it then. The only other place he could have left it was the chemistry room.

Zuko jogged down the hall to the room and peaked in through the small window on the door. In the dark room under his chair was the familiar red book. Zuko sighed with relief then slowly creaked open the door and walked in. He maneuvered towards his desk and pulled out the book. He opened the cover to find his name written sloppily on the inside front cover, indicating it was his. Just then he was startled by a high pitched shriek. He quickly turned around to find a surprising sight- Jet with a topless unidentified girl.

_Shit…_

Jet was the one to speak first. "I thought you would be over at the Jasmine Dragon by now."

"I should be but my meeting with a teacher went longer than I planned." Zuko glanced over at the girl who was shakily trying to put her shirt back on. "Does she know that your _girlfriend_ Katara is waiting for you?"

Jet gave him a dirty look before turning his attention to the girl. "You should go." He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her on the neck. "I'll see you later."

Zuko was getting pissed. How dare he make Katara wait for him everyday while he's off making out with some other girl! Especially since she's trying to plan a birthday party for him!

"So was that your tutor?" Zuko asked heatedly.

"You could say that." Jet smirked then got serious. "You can't tell Katara about her."

"Why shouldn't I?" Zuko practically yelled at him. "She has a right to know you're going behind her back."

"What does she gain if you tell her? Things are really good between us and I don't want _you_ to be the one to mess it up."

"How can you say things are going good?! You're practically cheating on her. That shows a really solid relationship."

"Do you think that if Katara and I break up, then you can have her?" Zuko hesitated. "Well I hate to burst your bubble but that would never even happen."

Zuko struggled to find an answer to shoot back at him. "H-how do you even know that?"

Jet scoffed. "Once she's had me, she would never go for someone like you. Besides, she thinks of you as a friend."

"Maybe once she realizes what a scumbag you truly are, she'll change her mind."

"Katara goes for outgoing guys like me. She knows how timid you are and frankly, she feels bad for you. That's why she tried to get you a date for homecoming. She knew that you wouldn't be able to get yourself a girl…it's pretty pitiful if you ask me."

Zuko moved towards Jet as far as the row of chairs would allow him.

Jet chuckled. "Like I'm really going to fight you right now. It's not even worth it. I better get going- Katara _is_ waiting for me." He smirked at Zuko and he turned around and walked out of the room, leaving a seething Zuko behind.

BREAK

Zuko went the rest of the week avoiding Jet and trying not to blurt anything out to Katara. In a way, Jet was right; Zuko's only real motive for telling Katara was that he might have a chance with her. Even though he knew that Katara would be way better off with someone else, even if it wasn't him, he wanted her to stay with Jet, so at least he could feel like he had more of a chance. Katara thought of them as friends and Zuko would have to be content with that- for now.

On Friday was the surprise birthday party. Zuko heard from Katara that there would be fifty-five people coming to her house around 7, so that meant that Zuko had to get there at 6:00. After school, Zuko told his uncle that he couldn't make it to work because of the party, and after changing his clothes, headed out to Katara's house.

Her house wasn't that far from the Jasmine Dragon. She lived in a big house on the corner in a relatively nice neighborhood. Zuko was a little nervous about being here, but once the door was answered by Katara, he visibly relaxed.

"Hey, you're here!"

Katara swiftly led him through the first floor of her house. As soon as Katara finished showing him around, they both got out the snacks and put the decorations up. Katara looked at her watch around 6:20 and left to go get her clothes on. Zuko finished putting the rest of the things up in the living room when Katara came down the stairs.

"So how do I look?"

Katara was wearing a periwinkle colored shirt with dark jeans and black flats. Zuko gaped for a second before scrambling to look indifferent. She sure wore a lot of blue, but in Zuko's opinion, it looked rather good on her. Katara smiled brightly at his reaction.

"You think Jet's going to like it?"

Zuko strained to smile but nodded. Katara finished walking down her stairs and swiftly put on her jacket. "I'm going to go. I promised to meet Jet at 6:45 for the movie, so I have enough time to walk over there. Thanks a lot for helping me out. I'll be back around 8:30. I'll call the home phone around then and act like I'm talking to Sokka, and that's your cue that I'll be home soon. Is that okay?"

Zuko nodded and smiled as she left. Now Zuko had to wait thirty minutes before everyone was going to arrive, and then he had to stay here for another hour and a half for Katara and Jet to get back. Zuko sighed; this was going to be a long night…

_To be continued…_

**Ha ha, sorry it's sort of left off like this, but I wanted to put this part out and then finish it so you can read part of it now. So I'll try to get the rest out as soon as I can…even though I'm not really sure when that's going to be. Hope you guys enjoyed it anyways and please review! **


	5. Partying a Party

**A/N: YAY! I finally got this chapter done. I did the whole thing in like 5 days and I'm pretty proud of myself. Sorry for the long wait, but I had a lot to do…but now that it's summer I'm going to try and update a little more frequently. I don't think it was my best –there are certain parts of it that are better than others but whatever. Enjoy!**

At 8:00, the party was in full swing. Music was blasting in the living room from a guy claiming to be the DJ and the snacks were always in need of a refill. Zuko was loosing count of how many times he poured snacks into the bowls. The worst part of it was the guests of honor hadn't come back yet and Zuko couldn't take this much longer. Occasionally he glanced at his watch only to be slightly disappointed. He felt like it had been at least 10 minutes since he checked his watch before, but it hadn't been. His clock read 8:03. On his way through the kitchen to check on things, the phone rang signaling the hiatus of the noise. Zuko yelled to gain control until everyone was as quiet as they could be.

"Hello?" Zuko answered regularly.

"Hey Sokka, this is Katara. I wanted to know if you were home right now."

Zuko smiled. Though Katara had been completely wrong in her address to him, it was part of the plan.

"I'll make sure everyone is quiet and the lights are off."

"Great! Jet and I are on our way back there now. I'll see you later then."

"Okay bye," Zuko answered then hung up the phone. He quickly entered the living room and asked for everyone's attention.

"Katara and Jet are going to be here in 10 minutes! That means everyone has that much time to find a hiding spot on this floor and stay hidden until they come in. I'll make sure the lights are off."

There was a scramble for people to hide away from windows but close enough to where the action would be. When everyone was settled, Zuko turned off the lights and hid near the door. Footsteps were heard and everyone became totally silent. When the door creaked open and the lights flicked on, everyone shouted out as loud as they could.

"SURPRISE!!"

Jet's face was totally shocked, which Zuko hadn't seen in forever. Katara was grinning happily as people cheered and clapped and bellowed Happy Birthday. When Jet finally recovered, he swung Katara close to him and kissed her quickly. As the cheering started to die down, Katara spoke out:

"Thank you everyone for coming and supporting Jet. There is food to be put out and later we will have cake but for now please mingle and enjoy yourselves."

The music was turned back on, and people dispersed away from the door. Zuko stayed put, feeling the need to be one of the first to greet Jet. After all, he is his best friend and the co-planner of the party.

"Happy Birthday man." Zuko announced when most of the people went back to what they were doing. Jet genuinely smiled at Zuko and thanked him. This shocked Zuko but he didn't show it. Normally Jet smirked at Zuko especially with Katara around and generally he never smiled. But Zuko reasoned that this was an exception; nobody had ever cared enough to throw him a birthday party.

"Zuko helped with setting things up and with the invitations." Katara stated, helping out the conversation.

"Actually Duke and Pipsqueak did the invitations. I just made sure that people didn't destroy Katara's house while she was gone."

"Thanks for helping- I really appreciate it." Jet turned to Katara. "Did you know I've never had someone throw a party for me before?"

"You must have had someone give you a party when you were younger." Katara tried to reason but Jet shook his head.

"It wasn't until I was old enough to be on my own that I had my own parties. A few friends and I would just eat at a restaurant or something."

"Well I'm happy to be the first person to do it."

"I'm glad too."

The two of them were silent and Zuko looked away from their moment. "I'm going to go around and get something to drink. I'll see you guys later."

After Zuko got his drink, he went around and said hi to people he knew. Many people weren't sure who he was, so he had to clarify by saying he was Jet's friend. After that, most people would realize who he was. It annoyed Zuko to no end that he had to clarify who he was by using Jet's name, but what else could he do? If he stopped being friends with Jet altogether no one would know who he was or care either. A few minutes later, Pipsqueak and Duke entered the room. Zuko didn't see them before, so he assumed they had just arrived.

"This is a nice place," Duke stated when Zuko came over to him. "I could get used to partying here."

"I don't think Katara has lots of parties here. She says she lives here with her grandmother."

"That sucks. This house does have a lot of potential," Pipsqueak replied looking around once more. "When do you get a chance to talk to Jet's girlfriend anyway?"

"Jet hangs out with Katara and her friends after school at the Jasmine Dragon. She sits at the counter where I work and waits for him."

"Niiice," Pipsqueak declared. "No offense to Jet, but she is hot!"

Duke snorted. "I don't think Jet would take offense to that. But you are really lucky to be able to see her everyday, even if she is taken."

"Too bad Jet doesn't fully appreciate what he has." Zuko mumbled.

Suddenly Duke and Pipsqueak were really interested in what Zuko had to say. "What was that?" Duke asked concerned.

_Shit, _Zuko thought. _This is _not_ good._ "Nothing. I didn't say anything." Zuko replied loudly.

Pipsqueak looked at him critically. "Yes you did; it sounded like you said that Jet doesn't fully appreciate Katara."

"And why would that be?" Duke challengingly asked.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just enjoy Jet's party."

"Don't you think Jet would want us to know what's up? It's not like we're going to tell anyone else."

"Fine!" Zuko practically shouted. "Jet's cheating on her."

"Wow, that's what you didn't want to tell us?" Pipsqueak laughed. "What else is new?"

"Who is he doing it with?" Duke inquired.

"I don't know her name, but whenever he says he's meeting his 'tutor' he's with her."

Duke and Pipsqueak laughed. "I'd sure want her to tutor me in something." Duke joked.

"Yeah, she could teach me chemistry… or anatomy." They high-fived each other as they laughed.

"This was fun Zuko. We should do this again sometime soon." And with that, they both walked into the kitchen to go survey the food.

Zuko breathed out a sigh of relief. That wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Zuko walked around a little before taking a seat in the living room. There, Katara was talking to a group of people and Jet was no where in sight.

Zuko watched Katara as she listened to one of the guys and then responded. He thought it was interesting how well she got along with people. Zuko knew that a few of them were kids from his school, and Katara didn't know any of them, and yet she was talking to them as if she had known them forever. Zuko wished that he had those kinds of skills. Maybe then he would not have to rely so much on Jet and become friends with other people. Katara's eyes glanced over at Zuko and he quickly looked away, so she wouldn't know he had just been staring at her. Before he knew it, she was walking away from the group and coming towards him.

"This party turned out really well," Katara said once she situated herself next to Zuko. "All the people I talked to said they were enjoying themselves."

Zuko nodded. "You did put a lot of work into this. I'm glad it worked out."

Katara smiled then changed the subject. "I was surprised to see you sitting over here alone. Most of these people are from your school, have you talked to any of them?"

Zuko shrugged. "I talked to a few people but then I gave up afterwards."

"And why is that?"

"Because most of them don't really know who I am. All they know is that I'm a friend of Jet's and then there isn't anything to talk about after that."

"It's not that hard to find things to talk about. You go to the same school as them; that should give you plenty to talk about."

"Easy for you to say."

"Oh please." Katara nudged him in the arm. "The only things I have in common with them are this party and Jet. That isn't much to go off of."

"But you're doing pretty well at it anyways."

There was a short pause between them before Katara started the conversation up again. "Did you invite Mai? I haven't seen her here."

Zuko shook his head. "Why not? You guys are dating and if she was here you would have some one else to talk to."

"We're not really dating anymore. I broke it off."

Katara frowned. "Why would you do that? You two were so cute together."

Zuko snorted. "Not really. She didn't really talk very much."

"Well you don't talk that much either."

He shrugged. "We didn't have very much in common. We've known each other since we were little but that's about it."

"Katara!" Jet called out as he came closer to them. "I'm going to get everyone to the kitchen so I can make a speech and then we can do the cake."

"Okay. I'll get the cake and the candles." Katara stood up but didn't move just yet. "Come on Zuko, you can help."

Zuko stood up and the two walked towards the kitchen, beating most of the rush of the others. Once Katara took out the cake from the refrigerator and Zuko had successfully found candles, everyone was crowded in and around the kitchen.

"Thank you everyone for coming," Jet started out as people started to quiet down and listen. "I really appreciate you all for arriving here tonight to celebrate my birthday. I was telling Katara a while ago about how I never had birthday parties thrown for me before. When I was younger my parents never did that kind of stuff…" Everyone nodded and smiled, having some clue about what he was talking about. Zuko could see out of the corner of his eye that Katara had reached for his hand and squeezed it. "Anyways, this is my first party being thrown for me, and by the best girlfriend a guy could ever ask for," There were awws heard as Katara grinned happily. "So I want to make this the best party ever so enjoy the food and drinks and have a good time!"

Cheering was heard from all around, and Katara began to put the candles in the cake and Zuko helped to light them. When everything was ready, Katara started the group off with singing happy birthday. Once it was done, she and Zuko quickly cut pieces and handed them over to people. After everyone was taken care of, Zuko grabbed a small piece for himself and hurried back towards the living room to capture his seat.

As he ate, Zuko watched groups of people eat their cake and listen to the music. When he was finished, he discreetly checked his phone to see the time. It was 9:45. It seemed late to him, but Zuko wasn't exactly sure what time the party was supposed to end at. He wondered if he could leave early or if he should stay behind and help clean up the mess. But Zuko didn't have much more time to mull it over before a flash out of the corner of his eye came and almost knocked him out of his chair.

"What the hell was that for?" Zuko roared as he steadied himself and put his finished plate on the floor.

"Don't even try to act all clueless," The voice above him stated, and Zuko knew exactly who it was before he looked up at him. He stood up from the chair so that he could be eye-to-eye with him. "Because you sure as hell know what you did."

'What are you talking about Jet?"

Jet's voice lowered slightly, but he still stood close to Zuko, trying to intimidate him. "I know you told Pipsqueak and Duke about me cheating. They came up to me to joke about it."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "So? You would have told them anyways. Besides, it's not like it's a big surprise."

"I don't care about them, but I know those weren't the only people you told. Did you tell Katara?"

"No matter how much I wanted to and should, I didn't. It would ruin her whole night- especially since she planned a party for you."

Jet looked slightly more relieved but still pissed. "Well I'm glad you didn't tell her today, but can I trust you to not tell her at all?"

Zuko took a small step forward, even though they were already close together and both of their tempers were rising. "I can't guarantee anything…Maybe I will, Maybe I won't."

Jet brought his arms up to shove Zuko hard, making him stumble back a few inches. If people hadn't stopped talking before, the whole room was definitely silent then. "That's not a good enough answer. You **better** not tell her about it. Or else."

Zuko couldn't take this anymore, and he was starting to not care about the consequences of what he wanted to do to further piss of Jet. He shoved Jet back hard –harder than he had shoved him before. "Or else what?"

Jet's eyes looked like they were burning. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have to squint in both eyes?"

Zuko was about to attack him, but someone yelled at them as they came rushing over. "Zuko! Jet!" Zuko stopped and stood there, content with just staring Jet down.

"What's going on? You guys can't be having a fight right now." Katara pleaded.

"I believe Zuko had something to tell you; Zuko?" Jet ground out, as he smiled menacingly.

Katara's eyes slid to him, waiting for a response. Zuko wanted to come out and say it so badly, but he knew he couldn't do this now, during this party. Most of his anger slid away as he mumbled to her that he forgot what he had to say. She bought the excuse, but still looked concerned.

"Well can you guys please be nice for the next hour or so, until the party's over? It is your birthday Jet."

Jet smiled as if all the anger he had ten seconds ago had completely disappeared. "Sorry babe. I wouldn't want to ruin any of this."

Katara sighed with relief. "Thanks babe." She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Do you want to dance? I could have the DJ put on some music and dim the lights. We can make this the dance floor."

"Sure. Go ahead and tell him what song you want him to play. I'll be over there in a minute."

Once she left, Jet turned to Zuko. "That's what I thought. Besides, if you did get your right eye to match your left, I don't think anyone would want to look at you then. I sure as hell wouldn't."

Zuko lunged for him, but Jet had already slipped away to Katara. The lights had dimmed and per Katara's request, her and Jet were dancing. Not wanting to get in the way, Zuko walked over and got a seat near one of the walls enclosing the room. His anger had dissolved and in its place, Zuko became focused with things he could do in order to get back at Jet.

Though Zuko thought thoroughly about it, he couldn't seem to come up with any good ideas. He could expose Jet as a cheater, but then severe consequences would follow. He would get beat up, and Jet could get the whole school to turn against him. And even if he did do the plan, he was pretty sure that Katara wouldn't suddenly start dating him, even though that's what he wanted her to do. But wouldn't it be better that she was away from someone who didn't treat her right? Even if he didn't get to be with her afterwards?

"You look bored."

The statement jolted Zuko from his thoughts and to the person sitting next to him. He had no idea who she was, but he felt like he should respond anyways.

"That's because I am."

The girl smiled at him and turned to look at the other couples that followed Jet and Katara and danced to the music too.

"My name's Jin." She was still smiling as she extended her hand out towards him. Zuko, still looking at the dance floor and not her, responded but didn't grab her hand.

"Zuko."

Jin discreetly withdrew her ignored hand but still kept the conversation going. "Are you a friend of Katara's or Jet's?"

Zuko shrugged. "A little of both. But I have known Jet longer."

She nodded. "Katara goes to my school. We aren't really good friends, but she still invited me to come. It's not like I had any other plans anyways."

Zuko nodded but he wasn't looking in her direction. Jin kept talking anyways.

"Do you know how long they've been dating?"

"About two months."

"They're like the cutest couple ever. I've only seen them interact for a few hours but I feel like the fit each other really well."

Zuko wanted to laugh at her last comment, but then he would have to explain himself. He settled for a cough and a nod.

They talked –Jin talked for a few more minutes about pointless stuff. The subject of tea and the Jasmine Dragon came up, and Jin went on and on about how she loved tea, and how she would try and come by and try some of theirs.

It was silent for a few moments, much to Zuko's relief. The song that was playing ended and a new song started up, though this one was a slower beat.

"Do you want to dance?" Jin asked brightly.

Zuko didn't answer right away, but knew what his answer was going to be. He reflected on another way to say his answer politely.

"No thanks."

"Are you sure? You've been looking at people dancing for a long time now. I'm a really good dancer I promise."

"I don't like dancing."

Jin frowned at his answer but recovered quickly. "Okay well, about the Jasmine Dragon, I was thinking of trying the tea there but I'm not exactly sure where it's at."

Zuko shrugged, he wasn't very good at directions or street names. "I'm not sure either. I'm bad at that sort of stuff."

Jin looked a little happier. "Well if you could maybe text me the answer when you ask your uncle, which would be great. I could put my number in your phone."

Zuko was a little confused as to where this was going. He didn't really want to go out on a date with her, but she had only asked for him to text her directions.

"Sorry, my phone died about an hour ago." He lied.

"It's okay; I'll right my number on a piece of paper." Before Zuko could object, Jin had pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her bag and was hastily scribbling her number on it. She placed it delicately in his palm.

"Here it is. Make sure you don't lose it." She smiled once more before getting up. "I have to go now, but I'll be waiting for your text." She waved at him and walked slowly away. "Talk to you later!"

Before Zuko could make any comment, she disappeared through the people. Zuko sighed and looked at the number. He didn't feel right about this, but he couldn't just not text the address. It wasn't like she wanted them to date; it was just so she could try the tea. Right after he pocketed the number, Katara came over.

"I saw Jin giving you her number. Are you guys going out now?"

Zuko shook his head violently. "No, she just wants the address of the Jasmine Dragon and that's it."

Katara laughed. "Oh please, she could have looked that up on her own. She wanted you to have her number for other reasons. You should ask her out."

"I don't really want to."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't."

Katara frowned. "She's a really nice person. She can come on a little strong but you'll like her. You should at least give her a chance."

"I'll think about it." Zuko mumbled, but Katara knew that he wasn't going to think about it at all.

**I hope you guys liked it. I have the plot figured out for the next few chapters so I think it will be easier to write. Also I'm happy to say that in about 5 more chapters there's going to be a lot more Zutaraness in the story, so get pumped! Thanks for all of the reviews so far, it's really kept me going. Don't forget to review this chapter also!!!!! **


	6. Date with Jin?

**A/N: wow…It's been a really long time since I last updated…I don't even remember when. I'm really sorry for this taking so long to be written and posted…senior year has been sooo stressful, but now it is almost officially over! Anyways this chapter seems shorter, but I hope you all enjoy it!**

Zuko watched the familiar girl in the corner of the shop as she finished off her tea. Ever since Zuko gave Jin the address to the Jasmine, Dragon, she had been there every day. She would order the same type of tea every time and then she would sit afterwards as if she was waiting for something to happen. It always bugged Zuko because no one else was able to sit there and he didn't have the guts to kick her out. So he'd just have to wait for her to leave. At one point, Iroh caught him staring at her, waiting for her to leave. Zuko tried to cover it up but it was too late.

"Do you know that girl?" He asked Zuko.

"We met at Jet and Katara's party. She wanted the Jasmine Dragon's address so I gave it to her and now she's here every day."

Iroh smiled "Well instead of me giving her the bill, how about you do it."

Zuko shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. You can do it."

Iroh chuckled. "I got to go run some errands. I'm sure they won't take long. I'll be back soon."

"Sure, sure" Zuko mumbled. As Iroh put on his coat and left, he knew that he wasn't coming back soon. Zuko would definitely have to give her the bill.

A few minutes after Iroh had left Zuko gave in and decided to give Jin her bill. As he walked over to her table, she glanced up from her book to smile at him.

"Hi. Um, here's your bill." Zuko lamely uttered and slipped the bill across the table.

Jin smiled brightly as she pushed her bangs out of her face. "Thanks."

After Zuko walked back to his spot, he watched as Jin read more of her book. About twenty minutes later, she packed her stuff up and walked over to Zuko to pay for her tea.

"Here you go," she stated, handing him the money. Zuko quickly deposited the coins and returned her the change and the receipt. "Have a nice day."

"Thanks." Jin smiled again before turning around and leaving. But just as she was about to walk out of the door, she turned back and walked over to Zuko again.

"I know we've only known each other for a few days," Jin began, startling Zuko. He didn't know she hadn't left yet. "But I was wondering if maybe this Friday we could go out or something; maybe see a movie."

Zuko raised his eyebrows, surprised at her offer. He hadn't expected this at all, so he scrambled to say an answer. "Sorry, my friends and I are…hanging out after school then."

Jin's face saddened but she still kept her positive attitude. "That's okay, maybe some other time."

They both said their goodbyes and Zuko made sure to watch her as she finally exited the shop. Breathing a sigh of relief, Zuko moved to clear Jin's table and get it ready for other customers. While he was working, Zuko heard the door jingle as someone entered. Zuko silently prayed that it wasn't Jin again, but was startled when a familiar voice said his name and tapped his shoulder. Zuko whirled around to see Katara standing next to him. After the party, Jet had suggested to Katara that they go hang out at another café after school, and Katara had reluctantly agreed with him. For about a week and a half, Zuko hadn't heard or seen from Katara until now. But here she was, by herself, and there was no Jet in sight to interrupt.

"Hey." Katara said smiling.

Zuko smiled back. "How have you been?"

"I've been good. I thought I would just stop by since I don't see you anymore."

"Cool." Zuko said, trying to sound nonchalant. Inside he was nervous, clearly realizing that he was completely alone with Katara. Jet was not going to pop in after thirty minutes and her other friends weren't going to come and get a table. He had always wished that at one point this would happen, but now that this moment was here he was uneasy about it.

"What café do you and your friends hang out at now?"

"It's down a couple of blocks from here. I can't remember the name right now. Their drinks aren't as good as your tea." Katara frowned, indicating her disappointment. "Jet didn't give me a reason as to why we moved somewhere else."

"He just likes a change of scenery," Zuko lied, looking down at the table hoping that his face didn't give him away. The real reason Jet didn't come anymore was because he didn't want to see Zuko any more than he needed to. They sort of reconciled after Jet's party.

Katara smiled, seeming to accept the answer. She looked around, realizing that Zuko was in the middle of something then walked over to the counter to wait for him to finish.

After he was done, Zuko situated himself behind the counter. Katara smiled mischievously at him and started up a conversation.

"I said hi to Jin on my way over here."

"Yeah, she's been coming here for a little over a week." Zuko simply replied, not getting Katara's reason for bringing the subject up.

"So, you two have talked?"

"Not really; only when I take her order and she pays me."

Katara frowned. "Well she does like you-ask her out!"

Zuko shook his head. "I don't want to. It'd be weird anyway."

"Why?" Katara asked curiously.

"Because she already asked me and I turned her down."

A pause followed as Katara frowned even more. "Geez, you're so picky. First it was Mai and now Jin. You get all these girls but you don't like them."

Zuko blushed. _It's not like I'm a chick magnet,_ he thought. _It's just that others push girls to me._

"Trust me I wouldn't get any girl if I didn't have any help from you or Jet."

Katara's face immediately softened. She put her hand on top of one of Zuko's and looked dead into his eyes, quickly making Zuko's heart rate speed up. He wasn't sure if he could stare at her like this without feeling the strong urge to do something.

"That is not true. You are sweet, caring but tough when you want to be. Girls like you because of these things. Plus, a little bird told me that Jin also thinks you're really cute."

Zuko blushed and finally looked away. "Uhh…thanks."

Katara smiled at his reaction and pulled her hand away from his.

"Great! So you'll give Jin another chance right?"

Zuko sighed but nodded. He was sure having a problem with saying no to Katara. He wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Katara beamed at him. "So you're going to call her tonight and ask her out?"

"Sure."

BREAK

"_Hello?"_

"Hey Jin. This is Zuko."

Zuko could hear Jin giggle in the background. _"Of course I knew it was you. What's up?"_

"I was wondering if your offer still stands for the date on Friday."

The line went silent. Zuko wondered if she was still there. _"Sure, that'd be great!"_

"Okay, I can pick you up at 7."

"_Okay, See you then."_

BREAK

Katara knocked on the door and patiently waited. Usually when Jet stated he would be having a friend over, that meant not to bother him until he called her later. She never really cared to figure out why it was a big deal but now, as she thought about it, it was sort of weird. Hopefully he could let this time slide- she had something important to ask him.

There a muffled voice through the door until a guy, she assumed it was his friend Duke or something, opened the door. He stared at her blankly for a minute before turning around to yell at Jet. Katara wordlessly pushed by him and walked into the living room next to the large couch to see Jet playing video games with two other guys.

"Hey guys; hi Jet." Katara had to yell so that she could be heard over the loud music playing.

"I thought I told you that I would call you later babe." Jet yelled back, not taking his eyes off of the screen. The guys on the sides of him snorted. Katara realized that Zuko could just be the only one of Jet's friends she could actually stand.

"I know, but I had something to ask you and it couldn't wait. Can we talk privately?"

The guy farthest away from her laughed loudly before mocking her. Within in 30 seconds, Jet paused the video game and menacingly told said guy and the others to wait outside until they were done. All three got up and mumbled under their breaths. Jet waited until they were outside and the front door slammed before he started to speak.

"Sorry about them, they're just jealous. None of them are dating at the moment, except me of course." Jet grinned at Katara before reaching for her hand and leading her to the couch to sit down. "What did you need to ask me?"

Katara took a deep breath and quickly rehearsed what she wanted to say. Ever since Jet's birthday party and them moving out of the Jasmine Dragon, Katara was a little suspicious of Jet and Zuko's friendship. She wasn't sure if they had made up, or if they were still at odds with each other.

"Zuko asked my friend Jin on a date."

Jet chuckled, "Did your friend actually agree to it?"

Katara frowned. "Yes. She recapped the conversation to me and thought it would be a little awkward, so she wanted to ask if we could go on a double date with her and Zuko."

Jet really took his time to laugh loudly. "There is no way I am going to supervise Zuko's date. That's just pathetic!"

"Could you stop being so insensitive?" Katara exclaimed, getting instantly frustrated by Jet's behavior. "We wouldn't be supervising, just making the conversation and things will run smoothly. Besides, when was the last time you took me out to go…well, anywhere?"

Jet smirked as he rubbed Katara's arm. "Oh come on babe, we're already dating, why would I need to take you out anymore?"

"Maybe to keep the relationship alive? So I don't get too bored with the same routine."

"There's no way you can get bored with this…" Jet grinned as he leaned in and kissed Katara softly before breaking apart a few inches away from her face.

Katara paused for a minute, regaining her thoughts. "Could you just do this one thing for me? Please? It'd mean a lot to Jin."

"Fine, anything for you babe. But you've got to make it up to me after." Jet fully pulled away and draped his arm across her shoulders.

"Thank you, Thank you Jet. Maybe this will help you and Zuko out too- doing this for him."

Jet scoffed. "It's much more complicated than that Katara."

"Well, it could just help a little then." Katara pouted. "Promise me you'll be nice to Zuko during the whole date."

"I don't know if I can promise that one," Jet joked.

Katara stared hard at Jet for a while until he relented. "Fine, I promise."

"Yay! Thanks Jet. You're the best boyfriend ever." She moved over and hugged him tightly. "And don't worry, I'll make this up to you."

Katara kissed Jet's cheek and moved to his lips, but then his friends burst through the door, ruining the moment.

"Geez, we were out there forever! Are you guys done hooking up now?"

Katara frowned at the comment before moving from Jet and getting off the couch. "I'll see you tomorrow," She breezily stated to him, ignoring his annoying friends and headed to the door.

"I'll call you later tonight." Jet called after her, as she quickly shut the front door.

**Sorry again for this taking so long and this being so short. I have the next few chapters planned out already so that's why I couldn't add anything more to this one. **

**On another note, this last section in Katara's point of view will probably only happen once or twice more, but mostly for the rest of the story, I'm going to try and keep it in only Zuko's perspective. **

**Since summer's coming up soon, I should be able to update quicker than now, but not by much. I have a lot of trips planned, and I'm leaving for college in mid-August. I really don't want this story or High School Sweetheart to drag on forever, so I'm going to really try to get both these stories done. **

**Lastly reviews would be greatly appreciated…I would really like to know what everyone thinks of the story so far, or this chapter specifically. Thanks!**


	7. The Double Date

**So since I updated High School Sweethearts, I knew that I also had to update this story, so here is the new chapter! I hope everyone likes it, and enjoys reading it.**

Zuko took a deep breath as he stood in front of his door, gaining the confidence to walk outside. Tonight was the date with Jin, and his double date with Katara and Jet. He felt comfortable that Katara was coming since she and Jin were friends, but anxious that Jet would be there critiquing his every move. Thought it was almost a month, he and Jet still hadn't forgiven each other. Most of the time at school they acted as if they got along, but when they were by themselves, it was much different. But maybe because Katara was there, he would act nicely. And with that thought, Zuko left his house and approached Jin's.

The plan was that the two couples would meet up at the theater so Zuko had prepared himself for some alone time with Jin. One he got to Jin's front door, he immediately knocked, leaving no time to be nervous. But the sight as the door opens didn't help him much. There Katara was in a black dress, smiling.

"Aww Zuko, you look so cute!" She exclaimed as she laughed.

"Am I at the wrong house?" Zuko asked confused.

"No...There was a change of plans. Jin needed help with her outfit so I came over. Jet is going to meet us at the theater now."

Zuko was speechless. He was completely unprepared to have Katara's presence there with them. Especially since she looked so pretty...

Jin appeared in the doorway in a dark blue dress and shyly waved at him.

"Hey."

"You look nice."

Jin blushed. "Thanks."

There was an awkward pause before Katara took charge and escorted the couple down the sidewalk.

"So we have to figure out what movie we are going to see. Any suggestions?"

"We could see a romantic comedy," Jin recommended. "I haven't seen New Moon yet."

The girls looked at Zuko for his opinion, but he shrugged. "I don't know what's out."

Zuko stayed quiet while Jin and Katara discussed their feelings about the twilight movie. The three of them kept walking until they got to the movie theater, and the familiar figure of Jet. At that point, Katara walked ahead of them to greet him. Zuko slowed down so they could have their moment and Jin followed suit. By the time they finally got to Jet, he and Katara were finished making out.

"Hey Zuko; Jin." Jet spoke after Katara nudged him. It was clear to Zuko that Jet was forced here and didn't want anything to do with him.

"Hi." Jin answered politely, not understanding what was going on. Zuko replied with a grimace. For the third time that night, an awkward silence followed.

"So we figured we could go see New Moon," Katara recapped for Jet. "Are you okay with that?"

"Whatever you want babe," Jet answered and motioned to Zuko. "Zuko and I will go buy the tickets."

Zuko reluctantly walked with Jet to the ticket line. They didn't say much until Zuko spoke up.

"Look, I know we're still at odds with each other but I wanted to say thanks for going on this double date with Jin and I."

Jet scoffed. "It's not like I'm doing it for you. It's because Katara asked me to."

"Well still; thanks." Zuko bought two tickets and Jet bought the other two. Katara and Jin walked over to meet them and all four went to the snacks counter to get refreshments. When that was done, they went to their theater, Jet and Katara first, then Zuko and Jin. The two girls were vocal about where they wanted to sit; in the middle. Jet lead the way to four seats and let Jin and Zuko go in first. But just as Katara was going to sit down, Jet blocked her and sat next down to Zuko, leaving the last seat for her. Zuko noticed as Katara glared at Jet before sitting next to him.

"What was that all about?" she whispered to Jet, though Zuko caught what she was saying.

"Don't worry about it." Jet replied, dismissing Katara and turning to the screen, the previews playing.

Jin tapped Zuko as she was eating a handful of popcorn, making Zuko tune out the other conversation. "Do you know anything about the Twilight films?"

Zuko shook his head. "I just know it's about vampires."

Jin nodded. "In the first one, a girl falls in love with this guy, who she later finds out is a vampire. But she doesn't care. This one is where the first one left off."

Zuko nodded in understanding before glancing over to Jet's side. The two weren't watching the previews and they weren't talking either. Zuko's stomach twisted into knots as he tried not to think about Katara and Jet. This was a date for him and Jin.

After about ten minutes of previews, the movie began. Zuko tried to concentrate on eating his popcorn and watching the film, but couldn't quite ignore Katara's voice.

"I really want to see this movie Jet." There was a pause. "We're making Zuko and Jin uncomfortable." Another pause. "We're wasting your money."

Jet chuckled. "Why are you protesting so much? You weren't like this yesterday."

"Yesterday we were at your house, not in public." Katara shoved Jet hard back into his seat. "Please Jet, I mean it."

"Well for one, we can always come back and see it again. I would say the money we paid for these tickets are well spent. And I'm sure Zuko and Jin won't be concentrating on us. If he can pull off this date right, she won't remember the movie either."

Zuko's face burned as he realized what Jet was insinuating. He felt the overwhelming need to come to Katara's aid. But it could look bad- him defending Katara. Though he wasn't looking forward to spending time with Jin at first, he didn't want to humiliate himself either. If he did get in the middle of it, Jet could easily kick his ass.

"Physical stuff isn't the only thing about a date. I can't believe you would say that."

"Oh yeah, like our thing at the club the first time we met was about conversation. You were into me because of the way we danced, and the way I touched you. Don't try to fool yourself."

There was another pause, making Zuko think and dread that Katara had given into to Jet. But her reaction made it clear he was wrong.

"Let's just get through this date and then we'll talk about it later." Katara stated. It sent chills down Zuko's spine though it was directed towards Jet. No one talked after that. Zuko was sure three out of the four people were now focused on the movie.

BREAK

Zuko couldn't believe how much that movie applied to his life. The whole Edward and Jacob thing, though in the movie was a little extreme, was what was going on between him, Jet and Katara. After the movie was over, Jin asked which team he was on, and he didn't even have to mull it over. He knew that he was with Jacob all the way.

"Did you guys think it was a good movie?" Jin asked Jet and Katara as they walked out of the theater. Zuko observed that it made Jin a lot more talkative.

"It was a lot better than the first one," Katara answered, not elaborating further. Jet didn't say anything. He just walked alongside Katara with his hands in his pockets.

"So where are we going for dinner?" Jet asked.

"We made reservations at a place down the street." Jin answered and led the way to the restaurant.

The place they went into was not crowded, so it was easy for them to get a table even though their reservation was for a half an hour earlier. The two couples sat across from each other. Zuko noticed that Jet had his hands folded on the counter while Katara's were in her lap. They weren't even trying to hide the fact that they were having a fight.

Jin also seemed to notice the tension. "Are you two okay?"

"We're fine." Katara glanced at Jin, making her nod and look down at her menu.

The rest of the dinner was relatively quiet. Jin talked some, trying to make the conversation not as awkward and Zuko answered most of the questions, helping the cause. Katara also said things here and there and Jet only talked when he was ordering his food. Zuko automatically assumed that he was pissed off at Katara, but his face portrayed a different emotion; guilt, and maybe even remorse. It surprised Zuko because Jet was never remorseful about anything. He couldn't even remember the last time Jet said he was sorry, or something was his fault. It was clear that Katara had some influence over him.

They're food came quickly and the four ate in silence. None of them ordered dessert so after they paid the bill they were out on the sidewalk.

"This was fun. We should do it again." Jin stated bubbly, looking at Zuko.

"Yeah, it was." Jet and Katara didn't make any indication that they heard Jin. "I'll walk you home."

Zuko turned to the other couple. "I guess I'll see you guys later. Do you have stuff at Jin's, Katara?"

Katara nodded. "I do, but I'll get them later. I'm going to head back with Jet."

Zuko was puzzled but Jin was okay with the idea, so the four said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Zuko turned back to see Katara link an arm around Jet's as they walked in the opposite direction.

Zuko walked quietly with Jin as she rambled about the movie and about how much fun she had. When they finally got to Jin's front door, Zuko was mentally exhausted from trying to keep up with Jin and wondering what was going on now between Jet and Katara.

"I know I said this a million times before, but I had a lot of fun, and I'm really glad you took me up on the date." Jin smiled up at Zuko.

"I had a lot of fun too," he stated, trying to keep a level gaze at Jin. He wanted her to know he was totally focused on her right now, instead on someone else.

"We should do this again by ourselves."

"Yeah, that'd be cool." Zuko answered, causing Jin to smile bigger. She put her hands on Zuko's shoulders and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. Zuko was slightly stunned as she entered her house and gave him a last wave before closing the door behind her.

BREAK

Zuko couldn't explain why he was so worried all this weekend. He knew he was worried about Katara, but he wasn't sure what he thought would have happened to her. She was more than capable to fend off Jet's advances when she wanted to, as shown in the movie theater, but maybe the fact that Zuko also knew what Jet was capable of was what really scared him. He didn't realize until that moment that both Jet and Katara had strong personalities. He now knew that they could and possibly did clash often. With Jet's emotions bottled up all throughout the date, he could have possibly exploded when the two finally got a chance to talk, and that's what really worried Zuko. But possibly the worst part of his worries was the fact that he couldn't call her up and ask if she was okay. Sure, he knew where she lived, but he thought him visiting her at her house was a little drastic. So, he was forced to just wait for the relief to come to him. And it did Sunday evening while Zuko was closing up the Jasmine Dragon. When Katara came in unharmed, the flush of relief and sudden calmness was almost too much for him to bear.

When Zuko actually saw her sitting in one of the booths and giving him a wave, he almost dropped what he was doing to come over and talk to her. But knowing that his actions would be difficult to explain, he quickly finished cleaning up, and took his apron off before sliding into the booth across from her.

"Are you okay?" Zuko questioned, anxiety and relief flooded his voice, giving it a rougher, concerned tone.

Katara nodded, slowly making eye contact, trying to hide her surprise with Zuko's sudden care for her. "I'm fine. Jet and I are fine."

Zuko nodded, feeling full relief and a twinge of jealousy as her words registered in his mind. "Are you okay?"

"I was just concerned about Jet's behavior on Friday. I didn't know if he was pissed or upset. He can get pretty mad when things don't go his way. I wasn't sure if he would harm you."

"Jet didn't hurt me at all. Thanks for caring though," Katara touched Zuko's hand in gratitude, sending an electric spark up Zuko's arm, before she took her hand away. "I hope we didn't ruin you and Jin's date. I was really worried about that."

"Jin had fun regardless. We're going to try and have another date on our own."

Katara smiled. "Well that's good. I guess you two didn't really need us there after all. All we did was make it more uncomfortable."

Zuko frowned. "No, you helped out in the beginning. It wasn't your fault Jet was being an ass during the movie."

Once again, Katara had to hide her surprise. "You heard what happened?"

Zuko realized his mistake. He had given away too much. He tried to correct himself but Katara kept talking.

"It's okay; we were talking pretty loud. But regardless we solved it."

Zuko nodded. "Do you want anything to drink? I guess I should have asked you that earlier."

Katara chuckled. "No, I'm okay, really. I just needed to make sure that you and Jin were fine." She got up quickly, and Zuko followed her. "I guess I'll see you around."

Zuko nodded. "Yeah; see you later."

**So thanks to everyone who read it. Reviews would be appreciated...I hope everyone liked the twilight references. I thought it would be kinda funny to put it in here. I'm really trying to update my stories more frequently so we'll see how that goes. I can't guarantee much though because I'm starting college in a few weeks. But I'm going to try to update as much as I can now.**


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